Like rain
by madelita
Summary: It takes time for Kaito to get used to how things have changed, but he's getting there.


_Hello everyone!_

 _I really need to get it together and work on my multichapter stuff, buuuuut. That's hard. Here's an unbeta'd thing instead.  
(Also, titles are my mortal enemy, I am so sorry.)_

 _Please enjoy!_

* * *

Kaito is sitting in his workshop. In front of him is a mannequin head on its stand, and there's a half finished mask on it, covering its original features. For reference, there are a dozen pictures, scattered on the left side of the table. On the other side, Kaito tried to neatly arrange his tools, though halfway through they got into their current, messy state.

It's always the middle of the night when he feels the most comfortable working, when the place is the quietest—all he has is the sound of his tools and the faint jazz music in the background. There are times when he gets so immersed in his work that he doesn't notice that the music has stopped. Or that the night has ended, for that matter.

Lately, he's taken to setting an alarm himself, so he wouldn't be down there all night, but sometimes he ignores it anyway, when it's something important, or if it's going really well.

It's not like he can't hide that he hasn't slept.

Out of all things that came with his night time profession, this is the one he has the most practice with. No wonder, since he had to hide it long before he became a thief. He has learned how to hide the circles under his eyes, how to act like he's perfectly fresh and chipper even when he's just a step away from falling asleep. He now knows how to function without sleep, how to cheat and trick his body into believing that he's well rested.

And when high school ended, there was no need to pretend that he was following a proper schedule anymore. There was no one to wake up for at 6 in the morning, and nothing to prepare for by going to sleep early.

If anything, it's night time when everything that meant anything to him started.

He didn't feel lonely, never for too long. He was far too busy for that. He conveniently forgot that he was filling up every waking hour excessively, barely leaving himself some time to breathe. That was fine. He had a target to choose, plans to make, recon to do. A heist to prepare for.

Everything else he did stood in the service of one spectacular night.

It was, probably, a type of obsession. But hey, everyone is pretty obsessed with trying to stay alive, and he was no different.

To pick a new hobby based on how useful it could be later, to keep in touch with only the minimum amount of people necessary to keep his cover... it could suffocate some people.

But he had more than two decades to make himself believe anything he wanted. At this point, he could walk through fire while believing that he's taking a light stroll on a breezy mountain.

And with this skill, he made himself believe that this was just a cool thing he could do, rather than a necessity. A shield for those quiet nights in his workshop, against the silence that would otherwise seep into his bones, for those walks in the city late in the afternoon, doing recon, against the loneliness at the sight of so many friends and couples being happy together.

He had no choice but to learn how to be impressed with the magic trick that became his life.

He leans back for a moment, taking in the sight of the mask in front of him. It definitely needs work, but... yes, he's doing just fine.

He's just about to continue when two arms wrap around his shoulders, and he can feel someone resting their chin on top of his head.

"What are you doing?"

A low voice, barely a grumble, slurred with sleep, and achingly familiar. He just has to tilt his head up a little to see a pair of sleepy, green eyes blinking back at him.

 _Things... have changed from back then,_ he reminds himself. Something warm settles in his chest.

"A mask," he answers with a chuckle, "as you can clearly see."

That earns him an annoyed frown. "Yeah, I can see that. I'm asking what _you're_ doing here, in the middle of the night. When you should be sleeping."

Kaito laughs, and leans back into the embrace a little. "You don't get to lecture me about this when you're just as much of a night owl."

"Because of my job, you dork. I don't exactly have a choice. You, however, could stick to the daylight hours most of the time."

"Ah, but that's boring! Where's the romance in that? But just imagine having the moon as your accomplice! Working under the starlit sky!

"Dork," Heiji says before he kisses his forehead. Then he presses a few tiny kisses on his nose, and longer, sweeter one on his lips. "Come on. It's like 3 am."

"Alright, alright," Kaito gets out between giggles, "let me just finish this. I'm almost done."

Heiji, surprisingly, goes along with it, but he clings to his shoulders. He's probably keeping an eye on him, to make sure he wouldn't actually stay there all night.

"You realize it's harder when I can't move my arms properly, right?"

Heiji pulls away at that, but only to drag another chair behind him, sit down, and wrap his arms around his waist instead. "Better?"

"Much," he replies with a smile, about to get back to work, when he feels Heiji resting his head on his shoulder. "Heiiii. What did I say about not being able to move my arms properly?"

"...what did I say about holing yourself up all day and night in the workshop?"

"...you're being so unfair right now," he grumbles, getting back to the right cheek of the mask.

"I'm only being the mature side in our relationship. As always." And as if to prove Kaito's point about being unfair, he presses a kiss against his neck.

About halfway through his finishing touches on the forehead part, Heiji asks: "Who is this guy anyway? He looks like a monkey." Lazily, he reaches over to the table to pick up one of the photos, while pulling Kaito closer to himself with his other arm.

Kaito allows himself a moment to enjoy the warmth, before he answers. "The owner of that new gallery in Haido."

"Mhm." He nuzzles Kaito's neck a little after he puts the photo back in its place. "You're gonna dress up as him?"

"Yeah. Either him or his secretary. But I want to make both masks just to be safe."

"You're leaving that other mask for later, though," Heiji growls, strengthening his hold on his waist.

"Of course. Like I said, I just want to finish this one and- ah! Heeeiii! What did I say about the bites?"

"It's not my fault you're taking so long," he answers, a little petulant, and just to spite Kaito, he leaves another small bite mark next to the other.

"The mature side in our relationship is at work, I see," Kaito sneers. Thankfully, he's just about finished, because he knows exactly how insufferable Heiji could get when he's impatient.

Kaito couldn't really be annoyed with him, though, even when he's holding onto him too tight to move to the bedroom faster than a dying snail. If anything, there's something cute about the way Heiji likes to hold him close whenever he could.

"Hold on, I need a shower," he says, just when they get through the bedroom door, but he isn't surprised when Heiji refuses to let him go.

"Later," he mumbles against Kaito's collar. "It's way too late, let's just sleep."

He can't really bring himself to care in the end, settled under the warm blankets, in an even warmer embrace.

As shocking as it was at first, these moments when the curtain is pulled back on his illusion of a life, when a gentle hand takes his mask off and he can be just himself...

"Goodnight," Heiji says, kissing the top of his head.

...it's like rain after years in a desert.


End file.
